Breaking MLM News: Global Verge’s former interim CEO, Steve Lewis and CFO, Teresa Curits, break their silence, reveling some very interesting information on the inside workings of Global Verge and Buzzirk Mobile, by founders Ted Robbins and Mark Petschel.
This open letter answers some questions, and raises even more to those who have been watching this saga unfold over the last year.
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“We have been quiet long enough and we are using this letter to be proactive so that everyone can understand the actions of Steve Lewis and Teresa Curtis in the matter of Global Verge. Our purpose is to get the facts straight so the rumors and lies that are being circulated will be totally dispelled.
Fact – Steve and Teresa were asked in May 2009 by Mark and Ted to help them to organize a company that was going wild and out of their control. Steve and Teresa agreed to help behind the scenes to get things started and straightened out.
Fact – In late June Steve and Teresa agreed to help on an interim level acting as CEO and Secretary to the corporation (which we were for all of three weeks.) The agreement included the following:
• Teresa worked on scripts that were supposed to be turned into videos for the company
• Steve as acting CEO until such time as Warren Hanchey could take over as CEO.
• Teresa as overseer of the Accounting and office operations, including training Craig Perry, an excellent business man and attorney, who was not going to be the corporate attorney, but the operations manager in the issues and specialties of MLM operations.
• Teresa would also work on customer service to bring it up to date as Mark’s wife was handling it and didn’t want to.
• Gerry Nehra must be hired as MLM attorney.
• A Canadian MLM attorney was to be hired to make Canada legal as far as MLM was concerned.
• An Australian MLM attorney would be found to make Australia legal.
• Steve and Teresa would find merchant accounts because Mark and Ted could not obtain one on their own (we found out later it was because Mark had pled guilty on a 2005 securities fraud charge and was currently sentenced to 5 years probation plus repayment) For details see http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2004/06/07/daily15.html
• Steve would also act as Marketing Director, starting a Triple diamond call to keep distributors apprised of the day by day current situation of the company.
• All Contracts were to be sent to Teresa to ascertain all legal liabilities of the company.
• Teresa would also become resident agent for the Nevada Corporation and therefore was supposed to get all the legal paperwork of the company as its agent.
All of this was agreed upon by Mark, Ted, Steve, Teresa, Warren and Craig in our living room in Las Vegas.
What we found out when things started to trickle in was:
• There was no accounting books anywhere. The commissions were being handled byXennsoft, an excellent software company, but the Global Verge ‘books’ were nonexistent. An August 2, 2009 email from Teresa to Ted shows that she was still trying to find out who was owed money and how much.
• What arrived for Teresa was a box with lots of paper in it, which had to be sorted out with Ted there as there was no rhyme or reason to it.
• The customer service ticket system was like a big pot that only a couple of people could handle and then they had to go through all of tickets to find the new ones and answer them. Teresa went in and organized it so that small issues could be taken care of immediately and larger issues were routed to the proper person.
• Teresa also found contracts to people for large sums of money. There was no record of this money coming in to Global Verge. When she raised this issue, it became the first time that Mark stated that Buzzirk Mobile was separate from Global Verge and that all of our work was with Global Verge and NOT Buzzirk Mobile.
• The next issue came when Teresa was looking for contracts between Global Verge, Buzzirk Mobile and Zer01. We were all told that the contract with Zer01 was with Buzzirk Mobile and Zer01 and that Global Verge had nothing to do with it. Craig Perry was then asked to put together a contract with Zer01 and Buzzirk Mobile. The management staff kept insisting that Global Verge have a written contract with Buzzirk, but we have no knowledge if this was ever done.
• At this point we also found out that Mark was on probation for securities fraud and that he wasn’t allowed to leave the state, sell securities or solicit funds in any way. Teresa immediately asked Mark and Ted about the trips that Mark was taking and about the contracts that Mark had signed regarding money solicited for investment from Canada and Australia. She was informed that those contracts were with Buzzirk and not Global Verge and she basically should ‘butt out’.
• Steve and Warren had also gone out on a personal and financial limb and had convinced 2 merchant account dealers that they would back Global Verge’s credit card accounts. All of us began to feel really uneasy about that.
• We had also helped find funding for Global Verge, (yes Mark solicited us for it) fortunately that money was on a short term basis and did indeed get paid back.
Needless to say, all of these incidents were raising red flags. The biggest red flag that was raised came from Mark’s refusal to allow us to even talk to Zer01. We wanted some straight answers instead of the changing commentary that we were getting from Mark. The story was changing daily. We finally insisted on meeting with Ben Piilani which was agreed to as long as Ted was with us. During that meeting we found out several things that for us put the icing on the cake as far as Mark was concerned.
• According to Ben, Mark had lied to us about what Ben had promised. Since Ben also was not living up to his contract about providing service, we were willing to give Mark the benefit of the doubt.
• Ben told us that he thought we might have service in the US in about a month.
• Canada was at least 6 months away
• Australia was at least a year away.
• He did have a voip service that he might be able to use in Canada and Australia.
We left that meeting in shock and horror. Ted Robbins showing as much shock and horror as the rest of us. We sat down and decided that the only way to save the company was to:
• Remove Mark’s name from all ties with the company and put all the stock in Ted’s name. We NEVER asked for stock to be put in our name. The closest we came to that is to ask that stock be set aside for rewards to Employees who had been there at least five years.
• Find another true cellular phone company that we could use for Canada and Australia until such time as Zer01 was ready with their product.
• Find out where all the money that Mark had received from Canada and Australia had gone to. Had some of it gone to Zer01? Was that why Mark did not want us involved with it? What deal did he personally have with Zer01?
Ted got Mark on the phone and Mark agreed that he would do whatever it took to make Global Verge successful. He agreed to hand over to Ted his stock certificates, stating that after all the money was in Buzzirk and not Global Verge. Ted went back to the office to accomplish this task, Warren contacted another phone company that we had talked to and we set about putting a service together that would satisfy Global Verge’s international clients.
The next thing we hear is that Mark is NOT going to turn over his stock. This was a complete reversal on what he had said. All of a sudden Ted was agreeing with him, after all his posturing when he was at our house. They also stated in no uncertain terms that were not even going to look at another phone company for Canada and Australia and that they are going to stick strictly with Zer01. We were told that Australia and Canada were NOT to be told what we had found out about from Zer01. In other words, lie to the distributors.
We then had a meeting with Steve, Teresa and Warren who agreed that this was totally unsatisfactory and against our integrity. We told Mark and Ted that unless they came up with a satisfactory way to solve the issue, we would all resign by Friday. On Thursday morning, after Craig Perry had left for another meeting with Zer01 in an attempt to reconcile everything, Mark and Ted fired the three of us.
We were told that we could keep the approximately 32,000 person downline that we had and nothing else would be affected. Even though this obviously meant a great deal of money to us, we could NOT be that far out of integrity. We told them in no uncertain terms that we were NOT going to have anything else to do with them and we all resigned from our distributorships.
They immediately put out a rush email and ambushed Craig on his way back from the meeting with Ben and staged a “isn’t it wonderful how we have everything going for us” call. We then put out an email to the Triple Diamonds and had a call where we told them the truth.
Craig Perry stayed with the program for a few more months and finally resigned.
Zer01 resigned from them and I hear there is a lawsuit going on. There should be. Our feeling is that Zer01 may have had the technology, but they were nowhere near being able to produce it. Zer01 did not resign because of us and it has been long enough now that people know the truth, we did NOT start another company with Zer01, though both
Mark and Ted used that as an excuse and as usual needed a scapegoat and our resignation left them a perfect target.
After we realized what liars Mark and Ted were, we no longer backed the merchant accounts. So yes we were responsible for those getting shut down, but we can’t figure out why Mark and Ted would think that we would financially back them after the things we found out.
We talked to no other vendors or tried to harm Global Verge in any way.
Craig Perry remains a staunch friend and assured us that while Mark and Ted were bad mouthing us in private, they had promised not to do so in public. Craig totally denied ever hearing Mark and Ted blaming us in public for anything.
Yet he also couldn’t deny that he was hearing all kinds of strange things from the distributors that were totally untrue. We only have the distributors who called and cussed us out for trying to steal the company to know that they blamed us as they blamed everyone else for the previous company going under. Craig finally had had enough and resigned a few months after we did.
It’s amazing how the story of E-verge and the story of Global Verge coincide so well. Could it be that Mark and Ted have played this game before and that’s how they got their money?
I think it is amazing that we have copies of contracts where Mark got almost a million dollars, yet what did he do with it? There was a lot of interaction between Zer01 and Buzzirk – or really a lot of interaction between Mark and Ben.
Could it be that there was something going on over at Zer01 that Mark was a part of? We all thought that until Zer01 quit Buzzirk a week later. Then we couldn’t figure out what the “cloak and dagger” business was about between Mark and Zer01.
Did Ben take that million dollars and screw Mark? Is Mark still involved with Ben? We found that relationship really strange and couldn’t figure out what Mark and Ted had done with all the money.
There were so many underhanded things going on behind the scenes that had to come to light. We found out so much that we left and warned everyone what was going to happen. Oh, yeah – it did happen. Guess we were right all along!
But it couldn’t have been Mark or Ted’s fault after all, could it? It had to all be the fault of Steve, Teresa and Warren. We had a whole 3 weeks to try and get a company together that Mark and Ted had spent two years and many lies to create.
Teresa Curtis
Keerthi Online
702-450-5940″
I happen to like Mr Manning. I have been in networking for about a year and a half and its very cut throat.____I can tell you one thing from my heart I would never be in a company with Steve Lewis or Theresa Curtis. Im my opinion its an ethical decsion. How ever I do wish them well.____I can tell you im with wow mobile now and very happy and doing well. We have a smart business leader who runs a great company but has come out with a plan to help our returning veterans.____and thats the rest of my story …. good day!____ 
, as it appears I may be feasting on the big black bird in the near future. 
sending...
Amazing!!
The webpage that was once home to the Zer01 service now redirects to Google, a fitting end to a saga filled with smoke, mirrors and deflections. Read more: http://www.phonenews.com/zer01-mobile-is-dead-105…
I wonder if they believe that an investigation is coming, and trying to clear their name now. I still remember a call with (I am 90% certain it was him) Steve where he said they had phones working, and we asked him to video them and post to u-tube, and he hemmed and hawed and became frustrated. I believe much of this story, but I think they may have had more knowledge then they are telling. I can't prove it, and to me it really doesn't matter any more, but everyone makes mistakes. I hope this facilitates the end of GV. No one needs to be scammed any more by them. I do feel for the associates, I spent money on marketing (cards, and flyers and other) neglected my other business that was making money, just because of GV. It was my mistake not to have investigated them properly.
Sam,
I believe you are correct. But, I have to say when you are the CEO of a company, you need to sign the company song. And if the song is to far off key, then you had better quit the choir, which seems to be what happened.
I'm not sure we will ever know for sure what happened, but this does stir the pot just a little bit. It will be interesting to see what comes of this.
Hey Sam and WOW!
We thought the exact SAME THING! NOW people HAVE their THINKING CAPS ON for sure!
After ALL …isn't it better to just simply MOVE ONWARD than to sink oneself in the "oh so obvious" quicksand of GV? NO ONE could possibly muddle through all this mess even IF they had laser-mind-vision!
TIME TO LET IT GO FOLKS! They say a GOOD company realizes it's mistakes and does better BUT … a GREAT company REALIZES it's mistakes and LEARNS from them!
I too neglected my other business that I was making money with to do GV. Not anymore. I should have done my homework too. I believed my upline and that " all the top leadership must have already done the research work before they got in" sales pitch that was feed to most of us. I hope they are arrested for this, too many people have been hurt by this scam and it has reflected badly on the MLM indusrty. I also remember Steve actions were not too innocent either, if memory serves me correctly. I got out, my friends and family got out and I hope and pray that GV will be shut down once and for all.
I too neglected my other business that I was making money with to do GV. Not anymore. I should have done my homework too. I believed my upline and that " all the top leadership must have already done the research work before they got in" sales pitch that was feed to most of us. I hope they are arrested for this, too many people have been hurt by this scam and it has reflected badly on the MLM indusrty. I also remember Steve actions were not too innocent either, if memory serves me correctly. I got out, my friends and family got out and I hope and pray that GV will be shut down once and for all.
Sam,
I do appreciate your comments. I think checking out a company is critical as there are many "wantabees" out there that don't have stable footing and fly initially on hope, but no substance.
I am a retired physician from Indiana an love MLM. I am working with a 16 yr old full service telecom company that recently acquired the only wholesale agreements ever in the 20 yr history of wireless, with bot Verizon and Sprint. We just launched International wireless calling $9.99/mnth.-no contract-roll over minutes.Company went public 2/20. Check out http://www.trylightyear.com. Very lucrative compensation plan. I am bulding. I would love to have your opinion. Thank you.
Dr Les Rekeweg
Senior V-P, Nat'l Mktg Dir
260-580-6050
Sam,
I appreciate your comments and I agree about checking out a company. I am a retired physician from Indiana and have been involved with a very solid 16 yr old telecom company that recently acquired the first and only wholesale wireless agreements ever with both Verizon and Sprint. We just lauched an international wireless calling plan that is unequalled. The company just went public 2/20. Compensation plan is very lucrative. http://www.trylightyear.com is a great company overview.Iam bulding a team. I would love your opinion.
Dr Les Rekeweg
Senior V-P, Nat'l Mktg Dir
260-580-6050
And thats the rest of the story.
how long wiil you stay with pather? I hope you do activations faster for them than you did for global? How many stores do you have? remember what comes around goes around. i hope you dont screw Harry, Bill & Kevin. although if you google Kevin hes not lilly white.
Best wishes with Panther… you might flourish with them. I hope so for there sake.
Gumper99,
These are old questions. If you read through some of the comments here in the community on other GV posts, you will see Chris has answered most of your concerns.
Gumper99,
Chris is only part of the story BUT …he's the GOOD PART! Why chastise Chris when it's GV that's done ALL the harm to both Chris and others in GV? We don't get ANYONE that has a beef with those who have TRIED and ACCOMPLISHED PROVIDING PHONES & SERVICES when GV DID NOT!
Regarding being …"lily white" …Theres NOT a shred of truth in ANYONE claiming to be "lily white" in this industry, let alone LIFE these days and IN this economy! PLEASE remember the saying " but for the grace of God …there go I" …that DOES NOT apply to willful, intentional, greedy people that care less about others!
Partners,
Excellent point. It doesn't matter if it is Chris, Steve, Teresa, Craig, or any other person who is not a stockholder, board member, or founder of the company. At the end of the day, the buck stops with the Founders. Leaders always take responsibility for the failures and give all the credit for the successes to their teams.
I have yet to see this happen in the last 10 years with Ted and Mark.
Hey man…
I wonder if those GV attorneys and planning a cease and decist letter for Godaddy demanding that they retract this email…
Keep it up my friend!
Micah
Hello Micha, I spent the last 7 months waiting and working very hard to make some extra money with GV, I spent lots of money in marketing, paying for my brochures, making calls and creating a big phone bill to get people into GV. Giving GV our last dollar just to make our Auto-Ship instead of buying food to put on our table because we were so excited about this business ONLY to get kicked in the Ass by Ted and Mark! I am so so mad and just to let you know that sense all this happened I have not been able to sleep! ! I can't sleep my GOD!! I'm so angry and I try to pray to try to "forgive them for the evil things that they are still doing to those that still have hope for GV.
NOW I KNOW THAT ALL THIS IS TRUE AND THAT THE BOAT IS SINKING AND ITS GOING DOWN FAST! This letter that was put up today says it all !! Today is a new day and Ted & Mark your going down with your Boat!
There is going to be a Major Law Suit and I want to be there when they arrest Ted and Mark! I'M GOING TO BE IN THAT COURT ROOM AND WE WANT TO SEE THEM PUNISHED! I'm so angry that I ca't spell right!
My recent post KV Pharmaceutical chief accounting officer resigns
Hi James:
I understand what you are saying about putting your last dollars into GV. I have been doing this since June. But, I must tell you that being angry isn`t the way to go. You won`t be able to move forward. You need to understand that when you violate probation, the penalty is great…….so, more lawsuits and violation of probation should exact the revenge that you seek.
We must all be strong enough to just let it go and find an honourable company to do business with. From what I understand, there is something in the wind (telecommunications) whereby those of us that have been in GV & lost are concerned will be rewarded. I will let you know when I have more details.
Sorry for your loss and the losses of all the other “sheep“ who were led to slaughter.
Patti
Be very careful or you just might be jumping off of one sinking ship onto another !
The honourable company you speak of is being run by the very same people that have been
recruiting all of us on to the GV ship !
I myself am about fed up with all of these mlm cell phone company's
( Is there even one MLM out there that is real and true and has a good service and $$ making opportunity ! ).
Take care and good luck
Yes there is a good one who pays every week and has tethering to laptops just like all the GV reps have been saying for many many months. No data caps. Just look
bit.ly/4vWYm1
http://bit.ly/4vWYm1
Hello wowmobileman
I went to your site and was let down again, i could not watch any video or find any info on the comp plan, i could not order a phone or service from this site !
I guess wow mobile is not set up to sell to the plublic from a rep's web site ?
That is what i am looking for is to get a good unlimited everything plan and to be able to sell to the public from my web site.
Guess i will keep looking !!
Good luck
Just ask Troy how Wowmobile is. He has been using the phone for well over a month with no trouble at all. The proof is in the pudding. We have actually everything you were promoting and never had. It is so refreshing to promote a company that has what they say they have. Good luck getting your reputation back after promoting a Scam so long.
I can stay the service has been great. Now I have not had to call customer service or tech support with any questions. But from what I hear both customer service and tech support are US based, so it has to be better than the hour I was on the phone on hold last week, waiting to talk to an eFax rep, who I learn is in India and can't answer my question. He haded me to call back when he could patch me back to a US based rep.
yes patti there is one fdi have the solution give me a call 504-273-6949
James, Don't beat yourself up! You don't have the problems…now Mark & Ted (there may be others also) have the problems, BIG TIME! If you need to talk it through I'd be please to talk to you or anyone else over the phone.
Yes and Thanks for your concerns. I know that time heals and talking about it really helps people with anger about GV. If I need your help, I'll be the first to contact you. God Bless and again, thanks for the offer.
My recent post Nestlé gives $280,000 to Meds & Food for Kids for Haiti
Hey man…
Sorry if this posts twice… minor hiccup on my end…
I'm wondering if the GV attorneys are planning a cease and desist letter for Godaddy demanding that they delete this email…
Keep Swinging my friend!
Micah
NOT SO OH WOW!
Folks – IF in fact this is THE TRUTH of what really did happen – then hurrah for Teresa, Steve and Warren! If on the other hand THIS IS a case of the TRUTH getting TOO CLOSE then …there's going to be alot of FIELD to HOE! This IS NOT just HAPPENSTANCE …THIS WAS A PLANNED deal! Notice in the "Open Letter" Terresa (or whomever actually wrote this open letter) spells it all OUT as it happened in someones living room in Las Vegas?
FOLKS – TIME to GET OVER IT – IT HAPPENED! Having been there since June 2009 – THE SEQUENCE of EVENTS FITS almost perfectly. THERE ARE SOME statements that would require MORE in terms of actual research and discovery but AGAIN …WHO CARES? IF these people were willing to go the distance AT ANY COST to gain the monies they gained and then SKIP OUT on everyone …THEY DESERVE whatever they get period!
SURELY we can ALL MOVE FORWARD and GET OVER THIS TOGETHER!
get over it… i wanna kick thei ass! How many other honest hard working people like myself are hundred or even thousands of dollars because of this B.S.
ME! I did radio, rented meeting rooms and more…
Don't worry about that Guest come on over to WOW mobile email me lamarco14@yahoo.com for more info. refer 3 and it's free.
Guest …
AMEN to your comment! We feel the same but ..we ALSO KNOW that it does NO GOOD to keep going over and over what's going on and what happened! SURELY EVERYONE is P.O'ed enough already – WE ARE ALSO!
All we're saying is LET's ALL GET ON with doing A BUSINESS and BEING IN PROFIT – ENOUGH HARM HAS BEEN DONE and SURELY MORE WILL BE DONE – THE MORE we talk about these DISHONEST & UNETHICAL people – THE MORE we're ALL STILL a PART OF IT!
SURELY we can find other things to do – YES IT HURTS and IT HURTS BAD but …LET THEM SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES of THEIR BAD ACTIONS and LET US ALL MOVE ON & BEYOND THEIR TRICKERY and PROFIT and LET THEM WORRY about HOW THEY are going to get their credibility BACK with anyone!
Although their is a lot of anger I hope that everyone can put it behind them and succeed anyway. The important thing is to get back on the horse as soon as possible and NOT sit and stir in the anger, lies, and so on. It does not good. However, consider it a learning experience, find a new company to build a business LONG-TERM and research that company. Start right here with MLMHelpdesk and check out what Rod Cook has to say and go for it. There are some other watch dogs for the industry but the often seem to have an agenda so be careful of that. As Troy says, "See you at the top."
Kenny Atcheson …
THANK YOU and …AMEN!
Kenny,
I read your response and I agree with doing your research. I am a retired physician from Indiana and love MLM. I have been involved for 5 years with a 16 yr old telecom company that recently acquired the only wholesale agreements ever in the 20 yr history of wireless. We are full service, local, our own Voip, business services, just launched internatonal wireless calling-$9.99/mnth-ex:1000 min-Mexico,China,Russia,UK,Australia to name a few. Company just went public 2/20. Compensation plan is very lucrative. Check out http://www.trylightyear.com. I am building a team. Let me know if interested. Thank you.
Dr Les Rekeweg
Senor V-P, Nat'l Mktg Dir
260-580-6050
The Need To Vent And Blow Our Steam Is Our God Given Right! No one is going to tell me to just get over it ! It takes time. Some might need more time then others, to get over this crap that GV done to all of us honest hard working people! i have no more money to start an other business because i spent it all with GV.
I will get over this in MY Time! Not Yours! I'm sure there are lots of people that might agree with me here. Thanks Troy for letting me VENT!
My recent post KV Pharmaceutical chief accounting officer resigns
James Garcia …
YOU ARE of course RIGHT! NO ONE here is trying to tell people to GET OVER IT! WE RESPECT YOU and everyone else that is going through this!
What WE ARE trying to say is that the LONGER WE DEAL with these UNTRUTHS and BURDEN OURSELVES with WHAT THEY ARE DOING – the MORE HARM we are doing to OUR OWN SELVES! SURELY …WE CAN go on AND DO BETTER THINGS!
There IS a saying .. LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE!" In THIS case – the sleeping dogs ARE GV Corporates – DON'T ANYONE DARE LET THEM LIE! GIVE THE TRUTH where THE TRUTH MATTERS! THESE ARE people IN CORPORATE or CLOSE TO CORPORATE that NEED TO LEARN NOT to treat other people this way …NO MATTER WHAT!
Partners,
Great comment! This life changing even ranks in the hearts of some just like 9/11 does or those who has lost someone close to a MIA/POW situation. None of us should ever forget this situation. We should use it as a turning point, so we dig a little deeper in advance, and don't get caught up in the hype.
It is situation like this which does one of two things to a team… They become closer, or it rips them apart. My personal prayer is that teams stay together and find a new home. It doesn't matter if it is inside of MLM wireless or another niche, but together they will be able to find a good company, look everything over, then present the company with what they desire before the join.
I would also strongly suggest everyone join